Charles A. Beard's Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (1913) has proven one of the most influential, and controversial, works on the American Founding. On the 100th anniversary of its publication, The Center for American Studies will host a conversation on Beard's legacy moderated by Herbert Sloan (Barnard College), with Eric Foner (Columbia University), Jan Lewis (Rutgers University), and David Waldstreicher (Temple University).

Sponsored by the Center for American Studies, with support from the Jack Miller Center.

The Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) and the Center for American Studies invite you to a special presentation of
Lyrics from Lockdown featuring Bryonn Bain ’95CC, award-winning slam poet and activist.

In his multimedia solo performance piece, Bain presents a searing critique of the American justice system. The production is based on his own wrongful imprisonment for what he memorably termed (in a cover story for the Village Voice) “walking while black.” With the support of a live band and video DJ, Bain tells his story with an imaginative blend of hip-hop, theater, and spoken word.

The Center for American Studies at Columbia University presents a discussion introduced by Adam Kirsch and moderated by Sam Tanenhaus with Deborah Eisenberg, Claire Messud, Joseph O'Neill, and George Packer.

Sponsored by the Center for American Studies and broadcast by the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA). Watch the webcast here.

Join Paul Levitz, former publisher of DC Comics and lecturer at Columbia University's Center for American Studies as he talks with Neil Gaiman about his life and his writing.

This event is free for Columbia Affiliates with ID; RSVP in advance and show ID at Box Office window. Non-CU Affiliates: $10; Day of Show $15
Tickets may be purchased online at www.symphonyspace.org.
Columbia affiliates should RSVP online at iijs.columbia.edu.

Sponsored by the Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies and the Center for American Studies.

The concept of the "normal" has been used for 150 years to justify a range
of "scientific" and scholarly approaches to the human body. But in the past 15 years,
the concept of normality has been replaced by the concept of "diversity."
So we are at the end of normal, in that sense. Lennard J. Davis
elaborated on the consequences of such an uneven development as well as critique
the concept of diversity as part of a larger critique of neo-liberalism.

Lennard J. Davis is Distinguished Professor of English at the
University of Illinois at Chicago, School
of Arts and Sciences, and also Professor of Disability and Human Development
in the School of Applied Health Sciences and Professor of Medical Education
in the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is also director
of Project Biocultures, a think-tank devoted to issues around
culture, medicine, disability, biotechnology, and
the biosphere.

Presented by the Department of English & Comparative Literature, the
Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and the Center for American Studies as part of The Ethics of Disability Studies speaker series.

Animating an Archive: Repetition and Regeneration in
Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

March 9, 2011
4 p.m.
523 Butler Library

Hillary Chute is Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Chicago. Previously a Junior Fellow in literature in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, she has published work in PMLA, Modern Fiction Studies, Twentieth-Century Literature, and Women’s Studies Quarterly, among other periodicals. She is associate editor of Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus and has written about comics and culture for venues including the Village Voice and the Believer. Chute is the author of Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics (Columbia University Press, 2010).

Open to the public. A reception will follow the talk.

Sponsored by the Center for American Studies and Columbia University Libraries.

Columbia Calls: The State of American Higher Education

March 1, 2011
8 p.m.
Kraft Center, 5th floor
606 W. 115th Street

Join American Studies professors Andrew Delbanco and Roger Lehecka for an in-depth conversation on higher education in the United States. Refreshments will be provided.

Sponsored by The Arts Initiative at Columbia University and The Current: A Journal of Contemporary Politics, Culture, and Jewish Affairs.

Habitable Worlds: Eugenic Spaces and Democratic Spaces

February 25, 2011
4–5:30 p.m.
754 Schermerhorn Extension

Join Rosemarie Garland-Thomas, professor of Women's Studies at Emory University, for a presentation that reads the intentions, logics, narratives, and consequences in the dystopic world presented in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go (2005) and its subsequent film adaptation (2010) as an example of a specific contradiction in contemporary US culture. This event is part of the Spring 2011 Speaker Series presented by the Ethics of Disability Studies.

Sponsored by the Department of English & Comparative Literature, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference, and Center for American Studies.

Laurence Senelick, editor of the Library of America's new anthology, The American Stage: Writing on Theater from Washington Irving to Tony Kushner, sits down with Tony Kushner, actor Tovah Feldshuh, and director Gregory Mosher for an evening of anecdotes, reading, and discussion. Click here to see the poster online (PDF).

Sponsored by the Center for American Studies, the Library of America, and the Columbia Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

Co-sponsored by Columbia University's Center for American Studies, Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, and the New-York Historical Society.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

The Lionel Trilling Seminar: “Obama, King, Ralph Ellison, and the American Dream”

April 15, 2010
6:15 p.m.
Davis Auditorium, the Schapiro Center

Eric Sundquist, Distinguished Professor of English at UCLA, will deliver the Lionel Trilling Seminar on “Obama, King, Ralph Ellison, and the American Dream.” Responding will be Kenneth Warren, Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago; and Glenn Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University. Presented by the Heyman Center for the Humanities.

This event is free and open to the public. No tickets or registration are necessary. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Click here for more information.

Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression

February 18, 2010

With Morris Dickstein of the CUNY Graduate Center
Presented by the Herbert H. Lehman Center for American History; co-sponsored by the American Studies Program

Becoming Americans: Writing the Immigrant Experience

October 27, 2009

Featuring Ilan Stavans, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Gary Shteyngart
Presented by Columbia University's Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, the American Studies Program, and the Library of America.

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From the Garden onto the Plate: One Writer's Path

March 23, 2009

With Michael Pollan, award-winning author of current bestseller In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

Pollan has been called a "post-wilderness nature writer" for his articles and books about the messy places where the natural and human worlds intersect - places like the garden, buildings, domesticated plants and agriculture. In his talk, he will trace the path of his writing from his graduate school encounters (here at Columbia) with Thoreau and Emerson through his work on the ecology and politics of eating.
Sponsored by the American Studies Program at Columbia University.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the American Studies Program and History Department of Columbia University have joined together to observe the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 1809 and to mark the publication of Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World, edited by Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University (W.W. Norton & Company).

Discussion topics ranged from “Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Rights of Black Americans” to “Lincoln’s Religion” and “Abraham Lincoln, Commander in Chief.”

The American Studies Program and Oxford University Press present a panel discussion with John H. Summers, Todd Gitlin, and Casey Nelson Blake.

The first collection of Mill's writings to be published since 1963, The Politics of Truth contains 23 out-of-print and hard-to-find writings which show his growth from academic sociologist to an intellectual maestro in command of a mature style, a dissenter who sought to inspire the public to oppose the drift toward permanent war. Given the political deceptions of recent years, Mills's truth-telling is more relevant than ever.

Blogging: Good or Bad for Literary Culture

April 25, 2008

A debate and discussion with Sven Birkerts, writer and critic, director, Bennington College writing seminars and Jenny Davidson, blogger, novelist, professor, Columbia University. Sponsored by the American Studies Program in collaboration with the Department of English.

Tribute to Philip Roth on His 75th Birthday

April 11, 2008

Panel Discussion with Jonathan Lethem, Nathan Englander, Hermione Lee, and other prominent writers. Co-sponsored by The Library of America in collaboration with The National Book Foundation.

Watch the C-Span coverage of the event or read the Columbia News article "At 75, Roth Has No Complaints" here.